


happy kitty, sleepy kitty

by Seito



Series: magical royal cats [1]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Cats, Fluff, M/M, magical cats
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-17
Updated: 2018-11-17
Packaged: 2019-08-24 22:04:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16648685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Seito/pseuds/Seito
Summary: When Cor was fifteen, he met a black cat with stunning green eyes. It was an affectionate animal, always cuddling close but never staying for long. It had to be somewhat magical because it never failed to find Cor, hell it lived longer than any average cat.Really must be a magical cat. Though why Cor of all people, Cor didn't know.But, he couldn't understand why Aulea would laugh for hours every time she stumbled across him withhisthe cat slumbering on his lap. Wouldn't for years later.





	happy kitty, sleepy kitty

Cor was fifteen and proud. He had fought for his new position as Crownsguard. People underestimate him, thought he was too young, too weak, too headstrong. But King Mors had recognized his ability and it seemed Prince Regis had too.

He looked at the letter Prince Regis had given him, an official offer to join his retinue on his trip to collect his Royal Arms. Cor just wasn't sure why.

Uncertainty plagued him. Cor was good, yes, but to accompany the Prince on what was a very important trip?

“Meow!”

Cor blinked, surprised to see a black cat sitting on his windowsill. It had stunning green eyes, looking at Cor with a curious gleam.

“How did you get up here?” Cor murmured. He lived on the third floor. Quite high for a stray cat to climb.

Then again, cats were always climbing. What difference did it make between climbing a tall tree verse a building?

The cat leapt into his apartment before Cor could do anything. It bounced over to the table where the invitation laid and pawed the paper.

“Hey, don't do that,” Cor said, reaching out.

The cat headbutt against his hand.

Cor sighed. “Look that's important. Don't touch. I need to give His Highness an answer tomorrow.”

Astrals, he was talking about this to a cat. Might as well, it wasn't like Cor had anyone else to talk to. His parents were dead. Signing up for Crownsguard was less of a desire to prove himself and more of a need to stand on his own two feet instead of being tossed into the child care system and thrown around like an unwanted toy. Not that anyone in Crownsguard knew that, but Cor wasn't going to enlighten them.

“Not really sure why he wants me to join him on his quest to gather Royal Arms,” Cor said, telling the cat. “It isn’t like I doubt my skills, I bled for my position. But this is an important trip Prince Regis should be taking with only his most trusted men. We’ve barely met as it is. I don’t really understand why he wants me along.”

Cor didn’t really get it. Why did the Prince want him in particular?

It wasn’t like Prince Regis was particularly cruel, not as far as Cor viewed at least. He was highly respected, beyond being the Crown Prince. There was a high chance that this wasn’t some sort of cruel prank, some elaborate test set up by Prince Regis.

The cat meowed.

Cor huffed, looking at the cat. “Think I should accept it?”

The car purred, rubbing its head under Cor’s chin.

“Guess that’s a yes,” Cor said.

Why the hell not? What was the worst that could happen?

-.-.-

Traveling with ~~Prince~~ Regis and the others had been… eye opening. Cor hadn’t expected to settle and click into their group, hadn’t expected Cid joining them, hadn’t expected to find jokes and laughter. It wasn’t easy, they ran into some crazy trouble. Keeping each other alive had been exhausting, they fought, they bled.

There were bonds forged in fire, in blood, in sweat, in tears, in laughter, in memories. Cor had found himself setting into… dare he call it, a friendship? Brotherhood?

Cor hadn’t expected the easy acceptance from Regis most of all. Or the somewhat shy and tentative request to become a permanent part of Regis’ retinue.

Still didn’t know what to make of that, to be completely honest. But by the time Regis had asked, they had been on the road for months and Cor couldn’t imagine serving any other king. It was an easy decision to make.

Cor liked Regis. (If he was two years older and drowning in teenage hormones, he would even say it was a crush. Oh fine. He was running on teenage hormones and it was very much a crush on Regis.) Regis was kind; a different balance to Cor’s rough sharp edges. Patient, where Cor’s temper ran hot. And yet despite all of this, he was undoubtedly a skilled warrior, unmatched, beauty and grace and unflinching steel.

Clarus was what Cor had assumed a big brother would be like. Larger than life, teasing grin but there with plenty of advice. Cid was a cranky man who acted like he was older than he was, but he had good common sense and street smarts that Cor adored. Being surrounded by nobility meant Cid was like a breath of fresh air. Weskham’s no nonsense was refreshing and his cooking reminded Cor of his mother’s. They wouldn't be surviving this road trip without Weskham's ability to do just about everything.

Agreeing to come on this road trip was the best idea ever. Cor was so glad he listened to that cat.

-.-.-

Speaking of said cat, Cor blinked.

“Are you stalking me?” Cor asked.

Because standing on his chest, peering down at him was the same black cat. Its tail flickered back and forth and it let out a soft purr. It kneed its paws against Cor’s chest and settled down, eyes flickering closed.

What. No really, what. Cor stared at the cat was that making itself comfortable on his chest. Honestly, when he had decided lounge on the chairs outside of the Leville, to catch some of Lestallum’s warm sun, having a cat sit on his chest wasn’t what he expected. (Much less a cat that Cor had seen back in Insomnia. How had this creature gotten all the way out here?)

Cor sighed, resigned to having a cat sleep on his chest. Fine. It wasn't like Cor was planning on moving any time soon. He just wanted to get caught up on his book, on this rare afternoon they had decided to take a break.

(Regis had exercised his “royal power” and said they had been traveling for too long and they should stay at least for three days in Lestallum. Considering they had spent the last week crawling through a dungeon, it was met with no disagreement. The Royal Arms could wait another day. Soft beds and showers were too tempting.)

He petted the cat on top of its head and was rewarded with a purr.

“You like that, huh,” Cor hummed. He opened his book and started reading.

An hour later, Clarus wandered by him. “Found a friend, I see,” Clarus said.

Cor snorted. “I sat down and it decided to join me.”

The cat didn't even wake to Clarus’ appearance. Far more than content to continue slumbering on Cor's chest.

Clarus looked decidedly amused.

“Where are the others?” Cor asked.

“Weskham is still at the market and Cid is giving the Regalia a tune up. I have restocked our inventory of curative and picked up a new gun for Cid. With any luck, Regis is napping,” Clarus said, amused. “

Cor blinked, surprised that Clarus would let Regis out of his sight. “I didn't see Regis come back.”

“Hopefully he knows better than to fall asleep in the first sunbeam he comes across,” Clarus said.

Bewildered was a good word to describe Cor's feelings. It felt so out of place that Clarus wasn't concerned where Regis was. If he didn't know better, Cor would be concerned that Clarus had been replaced.

But no, the brush of shared magic (Regis’ magic) between them meant Cor's senses told him that this was indeed Clarus. So he mentally shrugged and put it out of his mind, choosing to trust in his older brother figure as the man had a 90 percent accuracy as what kind of trouble Regis was up to.

(It drove Regis mad. The last incident was because he went through all the trouble to sneak a bag of potato chips without Weskham knowing, only for Clarus to sell him out to Weskham's long and detailed nutritional lecture. Incident before that was Regis’ ill timed decision to go fishing just as a storm pulled in. And the time before that involved stealing everyone's socks.)

So if Clarus wasn't panicking yet, Cor wouldn't. Instead he chose to focus on Clarus’ teasing words instead.

“Sunbeams really?” Cor said. “He isn't a cat.”

“Isn't he?” Clarus said.

Cor thought about it. It was true Regis had an infamous love for fish. And sleeping, couldn't forget the sleeping. Sure Regis had explained that the drain of the crystal on his body was still trying to stabilize and that was why he was tired all the time… but cat naps. Lots of cat naps. Enough that Cor (who be virtue of being the smallest was always stuck sitting in the middle of the backseat) was often an impromptu pillow for him during the long drives in the Regalia.

“Okay maybe he is,” Cor conceded.

Clarus laughed, the cat continued to slumber, and everything felt warm under Lestallum’s sun.

-.-.-

The cat, it seemed, was determined to be a permanent fixture in Cor's life.

After the road trip, after coming home to an empty apartment so cold and devoid of life, broken by a single meow of a cat. After being offered rooms in the Citadel, close to his family and chosen heart. After every long mission that took him out of the city. After Weskham's retirement. After Cid left, angry words and a heavy blow to their bonds. After the quiet shattering of his heart, when Regis married Aulea (sweet and kind Aulea, a perfect match, truly, but didn't soften the bittersweet blow to Cor's heart).

Cor had taken to calling the cat Nox when it became clear that it, he actually, was going be staying in Cor's life. He wasn't sure why. But he did know the cat had to be somewhat magical.

Cor didn't even feed Nox. He came and went as he pleased, but most likely would stop by at night to sleep in Cor's bed with him, and would wander off in the morning. Nox never failed to find Cor (in Insomnia at least, when his missions took outside of the Wall, Cor was disappointed that unlike the road trip, Nox hadn't followed). And as the years passed, Nox never seemed to get older.

They had a nice relationship of cuddles. Cor liked the warm body to share comforts with. He would talk to Nox about his day when Nox would stop by, even share some of his secrets. (Not all his secrets. Cor kept his raging crush on Regis a secret locked in his heart.) Sometimes they would sit and watch movies together, sometimes Nox would listen to Cor read.

It was nice.

So this was what it was like to have a pet. A magical one that came and went as he pleased, never asked for food and kept himself clean.

-.-.-

“Cor! Taking a rare break today?”

Cor cracked open one eye to see Aulea smiling down at him. Nox was curled up in Cor's lap, purring very contentedly.

“Everyone needs a break,” Cor said.

Aulea was glowing. No surprise, she was already six months pregnant and soon a new heir to the Lucis Caelum line would be joining the world.

“I see Nox has joined you,” Aulea said with a grin.

Cor had never figured out what Aulea found so downright hilarious about him and Nox. The first time she had stumbled upon them, she laughed for hours. Sure, she had stammered out an explanation about his name and that he was a big kitty with a small kitty. Cor got the distinct impression she was both telling the truth and lying. He didn't press it. It seemed mostly harmless.

Oddly Nox got increasingly shy around Aulea, hiding behind Cor or under his jacket. (It made Aulea laugh even harder but Cor was too bemused by Nox's actions.)

Aulea giggled. She rested a hand on her round stomach. “We are thinking of naming him Noctis.”

Cor felt his jaw slacken. “Tell me I misheard you,” he said. “You're not seriously considering naming the future Crown Prince after my _cat._ ”

Aulea laughed. “Why not? Regis adores the name.”

Cor's heart decided to twist and flop. He pushed it away and groaned. “Right. I want to be there when you tell your future son you named him after a cat.”

-.-.-

Aulea would never get the chance to tell her son that he was named after a cat. Not even a month after Noctis’ first birthday passed, she slipped away to a sudden, incurable illness. The entire kingdom was mourning. Regis, unsurprisingly, taking it the worst.

(For all that it was an arranged marriage between Regis and Aulea, they had come to love each other in their own quiet way. Had she lived, Cor knew she would have been a wonderful queen. Instead she was cut down before she ever had a chance to truly take flight.)

Cor was miserable. He liked Aulea and already the Citadel seemed colder, quieter without her.

To make matters worse, Nox hadn't shown up. Considering Nox had managed to show up after every other terrible moment in Cor's life, this felt like a subtle betrayal.

But… three months later, Nox showed up, carrying a kitten by the scruff of its neck. Nox deposited the kitten into Cor’s open lap.

“Ah, that's where you had gone,” Cor said. Nox apparently had a kitten during his mysterious absent. How magical cats reproduced, Cor didn't know.

He was touched that Nox decided to introduce him to his kitten. At least this was a ray of good news in these last few months.

Cor picked up the kitten, examining it. It, he it looked like, was the same dark black color as Nox. The kitten at that moment, chose to yawn, eyes opening revealing a crystal blue shade of blue, before yawning once more and falling back asleep.

He froze. Cor knew that exact shade of blue eyes, had been carrying a child in his arms for the last several months, trying to bring some measure of comfort.

And just like that, the final piece of the puzzle Cor had been subconsciously forming in his head snapped into place. The eyes. The love of fish. The cat naps. Sunbeams. Aulea's knowing smile. Clarus’ words from the road trip.

Cor whirled, pinning Nox with a fierce gaze. “ _Regis._ ”

Nox's ears flattened against his head, looking defeated.

There was a flash of blue, magic tingling in the air and gone was Nox and a sheepish Regis now kneeling on Cor's bed. “Ah you figured it out,” he said.

“You're a cat,” Cor said flatly. He looked down at the kitten he was still cradling. “Is this Noctis?”

Regis nodded tiredly. “He's too young to understand that Aulea is dead, just that she’s gone. It's been easier to get him to sleep as a kitten, things are… less intense when you're a cat.”

“Are all Lucis Caelums cats?” Cor asked in disbelief.

“Yes, it's a small family secret,” Regis said, sheepish.

Cor opened and closed his mouth several times, trying to get the words out. Finally, he said, “You've been sleeping with me in my bed for over a decade.”

Regis turned an interesting shade of red. “Y-yes.”

Cor was not going to think about that. He wasn't even going to hope.

“Aulea knew?” he asked. She had to. All those jokes and teasing laughs made sense now. But still, her husband was sneaking off to sleep in another man's bed, even if he was doing it as a cat!

“Err, yes,” Regis said. “She always used to say life would be easier if I would just invite you back to our, my bed.”

Cor's brain screeched to a halt. There was really only possible way to interpret that sentence, given the context of everything else.

“Regis Lucis Caelum,” Cor bit out, frostily. “Are you telling me you love me?”

Regis went silent. “Yes,” he whispered. “I was afraid you would react like that. I'll take Noctis and go-”

Cor had settled the still sleeping Noctis next to him securely on the bed before reaching to grab Regis’ jacket by its lapels to pull his King towards him for a kiss.

“You silly cat,” Cor murmured when he finally pulled away to breathe. “I've been wanting to kiss you since I was fifteen.”

Regis swallowed hard, cheeks still a bright, bright red. “Oh. Well that has been a mutual feeling.”

Cor huffed fondly before leaning in for another kiss.

 

* * *

 

**Omake**

Here was what Regis never told Cor. When Regis was nineteen, he was had taken a trip to the cemetery as a cat. Two years since his mother had passed and it still wasn't enough to heal the gaping hole in his heart. He had gone as a cat because he wanted the privacy.

He came and went, paid his respects to his mother, brought flowers for his offering and was heading home.

That was when he spotted a child standing in front of two new graves.

Curiosity got the better of him and Regis wandered up the child. He meowed, rubbing against the child's legs.

“I'm not sad,” the child said.

It was true. The young teenager’s voice was strong and true. Regis thought it was a little sad, that this young man would have to grow up so fast. This boy couldn't be more than fifteen years old.

“They said I should walk tall,” the boy said. His face set into grim determination, back rigid straight, and shoulders set. “So I'm going to go exactly that.”

Suddenly Regis wasn't seeing a child. He was seeing a man, a warrior growing right before his eyes, strong and unflinching.

He was smitten right then and there.

The road trip only made it worst.

(Clarus laughed for hours.)

**Author's Note:**

> [inspired by this prompt on the kinkmeme ](https://ffxv-kinkmeme.dreamwidth.org/4113.html?thread=6232849#cmt6232849)
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> Cats! Magical transforming Lucis Caelum Cats. lmao it was just too cute to pass up. 
> 
> Please leave a review on your way out.


End file.
